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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Romans 4</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/bsb/spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/romans/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmc//romans/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/romans/">Romans</a> > Romans 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../romans/3.htm" title="Romans 3">◄</a> Romans 4 <a href="../romans/5.htm" title="Romans 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div align="center" id="jump2"><a href="/niv/romans/4.htm">NIV</a> • <a href="/nlt/romans/4.htm">NLT</a> • <a href="/esv/romans/4.htm">ESV</a> • <a href="/kjv/romans/4.htm">KJV</a> • <a href="/nkjv/romans/4.htm">NKJ</a> • <a href="/nasb/romans/4.htm">NAS</a></div><br /><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="1%" valign="top">BSB</td><td width="99%" valign="top" align="right"><a href="/parallel/romans/4.htm" style="font-weight:normal" title="Parallel Chapters">Parallel Chapters ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><A name="2"></a><p class="hdg">Abraham Justified by Faith<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../genesis/15.htm">Genesis 15:1–7</a>; <a href ="../psalms/32.htm">Psalm 32:1–11</a>; <a href ="../hebrews/11.htm#8">Hebrews 11:8–19</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered? <A name="3"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>If Abraham was indeed justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. <A name="4"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">a</a></span> <A name="5"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. <A name="6"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. <A name="7"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: <A name="8"></a><p class="indent1stline"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, <p class="indent2"> whose sins are covered. <A name="9"></a><p class="indent1"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Blessed is the man <p class="indent2"> whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">b</a></span> <A name="10"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Is this blessing only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. <A name="11"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before.<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">c</a></span> <A name="12"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. <A name="13"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. <A name="14"></a><p class="hdg">Abraham Receives the Promise<br /><span class="cross">(<a href ="../genesis/15.htm#8">Genesis 15:8–21</a>)</span><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. <A name="15"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless, <A name="16"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression. <A name="17"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. <A name="18"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">d</a></span> He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist. <A name="19"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">e</a></span> <A name="20"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb. <A name="21"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, <A name="22"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised. <A name="23"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”<span class="fn"><a href="#fn">f</a></span> <A name="24"></a><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham, <A name="25"></a><span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. <span class="reftext"><a href="/romans/4-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.</p><A name="fn"></a><div id="fnlink"><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:</b><br><br><span class="fnverse">3</span> <span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <a href="../genesis/15.htm#6">Genesis 15:6</a><br><span class="fnverse">8</span> <span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <a href="../psalms/32.htm">Psalm 32:1–2</a> (see also LXX)<br><span class="fnverse">10</span> <span class="footnotesbot">c</span> Literally <i>How then was it reckoned—being in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.</i><span class="thin"> </span><br><span class="fnverse">17</span> <span class="footnotesbot">d</span> <a href="../genesis/17.htm#5">Genesis 17:5</a><br><span class="fnverse">18</span> <span class="footnotesbot">e</span> <a href="../genesis/15.htm#5">Genesis 15:5</a><br><span class="fnverse">22</span> <span class="footnotesbot">f</span> <a href="../genesis/15.htm#6">Genesis 15:6</a><br><br /></div><br /></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Berean Bible (<a href=http://berean.bible>www.Berean.Bible</a>) <a href=http://bereanbible.com>Berean Study Bible (BSB)</a> © 2016, 2020 by <a href=http://biblehub.com>Bible Hub</a> and <a href=http://berean.bible>Berean.Bible</a>. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Free <a href=http://berean.bible/downloads.htm>downloads</a> and <a href=http://berean.bible/licensing.htm>licensing</a> available. 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